are we really still making threads about this? ... ignorant and i dont know how you can call the guy a bum. He was a top skilled player in this league the best player on our team and is now the most elite player in the entire khl.. hes a bum? Im sure there was more to it then him just getting up and walking out on the devils.. use your head. You should realize that we needed to get out from under that contract if we hadnt we wouldnt have been able to sign all of the guys we did this off season to try to stack up some depth up front.. get over him..he did us a favor by leaving. Its not like he changed the team all that much by being here 2 out of the last three years with him the team didnt even make the playoffs. Much better off with out him..people like you sound like you have a real lack of knowledge when you say and make stupid threads like this.

To be honest my simple response to these types of feelings toward kovy is that long term him leaving helps this team.

I also suspect Lou at the vey least was happy to have him leave, he was not Lous type of player and maybe lou even encouraged the move to the khl.

It sucks because we lost a top tier forward and especially because his contract was probably taken into account when we did not match the wilds offer to parise (although I wouldn't want that contract either), but avoid the cap recapture allows the organization more flexability moving forward.

are we really still making threads about this? ... ignorant and i dont know how you can call the guy a bum. He was a top skilled player in this league the best player on our team and is now the most elite player in the entire khl.. hes a bum? Im sure there was more to it then him just getting up and walking out on the devils.. use your head. You should realize that we needed to get out from under that contract if we hadnt we wouldnt have been able to sign all of the guys we did this off season to try to stack up some depth up front.. get over him..he did us a favor by leaving. Its not like he changed the team all that much by being here 2 out of the last three years with him the team didnt even make the playoffs. Much better off with out him..people like you sound like you have a real lack of knowledge when you say and make stupid threads like this.

He's a bum. Sure, the team might be better off in the long run without him, but it jumped through hoops to acquire him, resign him, and make him happy. JVB spent millions in penalties (let that not be forgotten - that couldn't have been pleasant for JVB) and sacrificed two draft picks for him. He bailed on a team that he was contractually obligated and committed to - he's a bum. There are no hard feelings anymore because what's done is done, but he pulled a pretty gutless move.

And the only immediate benefit of his departure is the temporary acquisition of Jagr. That's it. I'd take Kovalchuk over Ryder, Clowe and Brunner in a heartbeat.

He's a bum. Sure, the team might be better off in the long run without him, but it jumped through hoops to acquire him, resign him, and make him happy. JVB spent millions in penalties (let that not be forgotten - that couldn't have been pleasant for JVB) and sacrificed two draft picks for him. He bailed on a team that he was contractually obligated and committed to - he's a bum. There are no hard feelings anymore because what's done is done, but he pulled a pretty gutless move.

And the only immediate benefit of his departure is the temporary acquisition of Jagr. That's it. I'd take Kovalchuk over Ryder, Clowe and Brunner in a heartbeat.

And I would take those three contracts (yes even Clowe's) over Kovy's contract in a heartbeat too.

We really should be thankful he bolted when he did so our penalty is only $300k a year.

THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

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It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

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i'll give you that he's a highly skilled player, but he's also a sellout who thought more of "going home" than helping his team. If he wanted so badly to go back to Russia, he should have done it before signing that contract with us.

i'll give you that he's a highly skilled player, but he's also a sellout who thought more of "going home" than helping his team. If he wanted so badly to go back to Russia, he should have done it before signing that contract with us.

He only went home because he could make more money. If the money wasn't there he would still be a devil.

Oh well that Russian merc can have as much fun and money over there that he wants. He is just another "retired" player to me now.

Why do you feel this is more of a team? Is this more of a "team" than the one Kovalchuk led in scoring in the 2012 playoffs?

Kovalchuk was liked and respected in the locker room. On the ice...he was actually too selfless to a fault. He passed up so many looks on 2 on 1s. The Devils at first bent over backwards for him, but I doubt those were his demands. He didn't break any rules while he was here. Jacques Lemaire isn't conceding to anyone, and he was the one who first started playing Kovy all 2 minutes on the powerplay. What a shame that Fayne or Larsson got less PP time. What a shame that Cam Janssen got less ice-time for Kovalchuk.

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"The Stanley Cup has fallen from the Stars. The new millennium has its first Stanley Cup Champion, and it's the New Jersey Devils." Mike Miller calling the Devils winning the Stanley Cup.

"It goes to the captain and then there are handoffs during a skate around the ice" Mike Emrick as Scott Stevens is being presented the Stanley Cup.

Why do you feel this is more of a team? Is this more of a "team" than the one Kovalchuk led in scoring in the 2012 playoffs?

Kovalchuk was liked and respected in the locker room. On the ice...he was actually too selfless to a fault. He passed up so many looks on 2 on 1s. The Devils at first bent over backwards for him, but I doubt those were his demands. He didn't break any rules while he was here. Jacques Lemaire isn't conceding to anyone, and he was the one who first started playing Kovy all 2 minutes on the powerplay. What a shame that Fayne or Larsson got less PP time. What a shame that Cam Janssen got less ice-time for Kovalchuk.

Kovy leaving IMO was a huge mix a many many many things. Could be all small things that kept on adding up but i think thats what it is.

- The lockout is the main reason, he pretty much said fvck You NHL. Few top russians had a pact of staying in russia for good if the lockout would have continued a few more weeks.

- I could be wrong but him not getting the C in NJ might have stung him a little.

- Playing in a very strict system where some of his offensive abilities we're restrained. (personally i think he was perfectly fine with it AS LONG we we're successful and winning, some kind of creative/freedom sacrifice for success. We know Russians like to do their dekes and carrying the puck all the time). Dumb reason or not, that kind of player like to do "his things". I still think he was a great teammates though.

- Getting more money in Russia

- Seeing what it was to play in Russia during the lockout and being THE face of the league, he was not even invited to the all stars games anymore in the NHL. He was a GOD in russia. Playing in front of his family and all

- Maybe the timing of the Sochi games and him making a statement that his country was the most important thing to him (he'll be captain of the team there's no way around it)

- fvck him

Bottom line i think he mostly said. fvck you NHL and not fvck You NJ.

I guess i'll specify that all those small reasons may be a very small % or not be a reason at all, its all speculations. Don't jump on me for a specific one as if im saying thats the one and only reason.

Why do you feel this is more of a team? Is this more of a "team" than the one Kovalchuk led in scoring in the 2012 playoffs?

Kovalchuk was liked and respected in the locker room. On the ice...he was actually too selfless to a fault. He passed up so many looks on 2 on 1s. The Devils at first bent over backwards for him, but I doubt those were his demands. He didn't break any rules while he was here. Jacques Lemaire isn't conceding to anyone, and he was the one who first started playing Kovy all 2 minutes on the powerplay. What a shame that Fayne or Larsson got less PP time. What a shame that Cam Janssen got less ice-time for Kovalchuk.

Sorry, but we know this isn't true. Both Lemaire and Lou said that Kovalchuk was doing things defensively that they didn't want him to do, but that they didn't have the ability to get those things out of his game in the short time he was here in 2010.

His heart wasn't in playing for the Devils anymore. That's the only reason that mattered to me...the other reasons which only he knows that made him not want to be a Devil don't matter to me, and I'm not going to judge him for any of it. It could've been a lot worse...a miserable star player can do a lot of damage without even trying. If he was that unhappy with the prospect of remaining with the Devils/in the NHL/whatever that he had to "retire" to get out of his contract, he did everyone involved a favor.

I could come up with a big list of speculative reasons like SD did about why he left, but what's the point? None of us knew the guy personally.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

I still think Lou asked him if he wanted to go home and told him that if he did, this was the time to do so. Kovy, happy to do so for many reasons, may have been the greatest teammate because I think the new owners wanted no part of that contract going forward.